Red Dog's Editorial
by genkakusalvo
Summary: A little story from Akainu's perspective about his actions during the story. Rated T just because.


**Red Dog's Editorial**

**I don't own **_**ONE PIECE**_**, but that should be fairly obvious**

**Told from Akainu's POV**

I guess I'd start this story somewhere around the middle. Don't know why you'd start anywhere else, really. You don't give a damn about my childhood. I didn't get abused and didn't have a mother complex. I wasn't bullied. So your kind doesn't want to hear it.

But I can't just start now, either. You'll be all confused and wonder just who I am. So I need to give a little history, so that you get the right perspective.

I'll start on the day that I became a Marine Vice Admiral. I don't remember much about the ceremony itself, except that that nutcase Borsalino got drunk and just about blinded everyone by turning into light and shooting from one mirror to another. We had rented out some fancy ballroom, which was exactly the wrong place to let that drunkard loose in. Sengoku nearly had an aneurysm. The bill was enormous.

I do remember how I felt that day: dog-tired, with a chest wound still opening every now and then. I was doing better than the pirate who gave me the wound. He'd been terrorizing a village like most pirate filth does. So I just sort of hit him in the face with a fist made out of lava. It made a right mess, too, and I got billed for that. Busted up some guy's bar when pieces of lava and pirate hit the side wall. It wasn't my fault. I reckon a pirate worth a hundred million should be able to at least stop a lava fist.

So a celebration wasn't really what I needed, but I thought, why not, at least my crew can unwind a bit. They've been on edge recently, and I don't know why. I've taken to reading out the _Codes of Justice_ to them every morning. I think it makes them nervous, a little. They think I'm going to bust them on wardrobe violations or something. I only did that once, the first time I drank vodka. Nasty stuff, makes you drunk and mean. Anything else and you're just drunk, but not vodka. I did apologize to the guy, but in hindsight I probably should have given him something else, like extra meal privileges. But really, they don't have to worry about me unless they've done something wrong. With the kind of Marines you get these days, it wouldn't surprise me.

It wasn't bad being a Vice Admiral, either. You could go places without having to report it all the time, and pretty much got to hunt down whoever you wanted to. That was real convenient. The only bad thing about it was that you were basically the bureaucrats' slave. When they wanted something done, they wanted someone competent doing it, no matter if it was no job for a Vice Admiral. Afraid of failure, I guess. Gutless cowards, good for nothing but inflating their own egos and giving everyone else headaches. I ended up catching the Gorousei's cat. Of all the asinine things to happen to me, that has got to be one of the worst. Of course, there was also that time with a drunk Vice Admiral Garp and a pasta machine. Or the time that Spandaman- I think that's his name- gave Rob Lucci catnip. I sincerely hope I never have to deal with a grown man trying to bite chunks out of me while purring ever again.

I had some serious jobs too, though. There was Ohara. I do think about the innocents we killed there. I've never regretted shooting that refugee ship, and that makes people think that I didn't care about the human lives involved. I did, but to me the fate of the world was more important. It would have been easy for a scholar to have disguised themselves as a normal person, or for someone to be a sleeper agent for them. We're talking about people that were trying to revive a weapon that would leave countless millions dead. Things like that should be left alone, or in the hands of Justice.

I had to show the world that we meant it when we said that we would protect them. I had to show them that Justice would not rest until the world was at peace and safe from evil. But of course, Nico Robin survived and made sure that our sacrifices were in vain.

I've lost track of the number of people I've killed. Sometimes that makes me pause. It's not easy knowing that you've ended so many lives. My dreams are filled with screams, sometimes. I wake up and I can't go back to sleep. When that happens I remember that I'm not here to like myself. I'm here to serve the world and its Justice. It doesn't matter what I have to become to achieve that goal. If innocent people are safe in the end, if order is maintained, I'm fine with anything. I did what I had to do.

I was promoted to Admiral a few years later. I trained endlessly to make myself worthy of the position. My crew thought I was nuts. The rank itself doesn't make me proud, but one thing that does is the fear on pirates' faces when they hear my name. Red Dog. It fits.

Borsalino gave me a bonsai tree. I have no idea why, but then, I have no idea why that man does anything. I like looking at it. It's so small and frail, but yet so elegant. You have to cut it just right, or it looks lopsided. I've been exploring some different ways of balancing it. There's been some success, but it's looked awful a few times. When that happens, Kuzan laughs at me. I hate that man.

It's just his attitude. At least Borsalino tries. Kuzan just gives up too soon. If he's tired, or injured, or just can't be bothered, he lets his prey escape. Me, I keep on hunting as long as I can. I do whatever it takes. I don't care if I have to lie to my enemy and manipulate him. It's war, and anything goes. People who say otherwise are either winning by a lot and trying to save face or gone to Hades the next day. When Sengoku said to convince Squardo to kill Whitebeard, I didn't think it was dirty. Actually, the only thing I thought about it was that it was way too easy. People filled with hate are too easy to manipulate. They charge ahead at whatever they despise with no regard for reason. That's why I try to keep my hate cold and cruel.

People ask me what it was like facing Whitebeard. Honestly, I feel a bit stupid whenever I think of how much a half-dying man managed to hurt me. Sure, I took off half of his face, but he knocked me down. I almost fell unconscious and it took quite a bit of effort to stand back up, a few hundred feet from where I just was, and keep going after Straw Hat Luffy. And all this as Whitebeard was dying. He may have been a vile criminal who encouraged piracy, but he was strong. In a way, I have to respect him. But you're either with us or against us, and if you're against us, no matter your own personal values or morals, you stand with evil. Because you fight us, we can't keep the world as peaceful as we'd like.

They also ask about Fire Fist Ace. He was a stupid boy who cared more about satisfying his own ego than his friends. A few taunts about Whitebeard and he turned to face me. He must have known he had no chance. He almost got his brother killed by me and made sure that every one of his friends who died in that war died in vain. It's one thing for me to taunt him and kill him, but when he does it to himself, I just can't respect that.

I guess whichever pirates are reading this have already burned it, and whichever citizens are reading it already know why I do what I do. So I figure this was pretty much pointless. Except for one thing. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Kuzan! Shut up already about how it was cruel how I killed Ace. He died, no matter how I did it. Shut up about the evacuation vessel.

Let's see: what have you done? You got your golden transponder snail stolen by Spandaman, which led to the destruction of Enies Lobby and cost the government billions. And I got the bill! Do you have any idea how angry that makes me. You let Nico Robin escape and the world is in danger to this very day because of it. I can't prove it yet, but one day I will. And then you'll be locked up like the criminal that you are!


End file.
